Dynamics of spatial coherence and momentum distribution of polaritons in a semiconductor microcavity under conditions of Bose-Einstein condensation

The dynamics of spatial coherence and momentum distribution of polaritons in the regime of Bose-Einstein condensation in a GaAs microcavity with embedded quantum wells under nonresonant excitation with picosecond laser pulses are investigated. It is shown that the establishment of the condensate coherence is accompanied by narrowing of the polariton momentum distribution. At the same time, at sufficiently high excitation densities, there is significant qualitative discrepancy between the dynamic behavior of the width of the polariton momentum distribution determined from direct measurements and that calculated from the spatial distribution of coherence. This discrepancy is observed at the fast initial stage of the polariton system kinetics and, apparently, results from the strong spatial nonuniformity of the phase of the condensate wavefunction, which equilibrates on a much longer time scale.